Twelsie
by thebirdsfallsilent
Summary: A Dalton by CP Coulter side-fic. When best friend Elsie confesses having feelings for Ethan, he doesn't think he reciprocates. But the seed is planted in his mind, and as it grows, Evan finds himself left behind as his brother takes the first steps towards growing up. Luckily, he has the best friends possible to help start his own journey.   Aaaaaaaaaallll the Windsor boys feels!


Elsie stretched, and glanced at her watch. With a sigh, she pushed herself off the bed where she was lain with the twins, and slipped her feet back into her shoes. After a full day of slobbing out watching Harry Potter, they'd fallen asleep, a mess of tangled limbs and sleepy sighs.

She poked them both on the cheek. They stirred, and sluggishly rubbed sleep from their eyes.

"I gotta go, guys," she murmured drowsily, "Don't wanna miss stupid curfew." Her words dripped heavily with sarcasm and loathing; she'd given up the false pretence that she actually enjoyed being at Dobry. She hated the rules, the work, the uniform… But most of all, she hated the stuck up, snobby, spoilt girls she had to spend every waking minute with. Often, she found herself escaping to the serenity of Dalton Academy, and into the welcoming arms of the not-quite sane - yet welcoming, nonetheless - arms of the Windsor house boys. Recently, however, she found more comfort in the Tweedles than anyone else, and more often than not she'd bike over on a Friday evening and spend the weekend involved in erratic Nerf fights (for which, after experience, she was always fully prepared; she carried extra bullets on her at all times) and frequent Harry Potter marathons. She enjoyed herself so much when she was with them. She could let loose, act like a child, admit to the things she really loved, and they thought all the better of her for it.

Ethan swung his legs over the edge of the bed and squinted up at her.

"Want us to give you a ride?" He said, through a yawn. Elsie tilted her head to the side and gazed at him adoringly. His hair was tousled and he still looked as angelic as he did whilst asleep. Minutely, Elsie shook her head and cursed herself for letting these thoughts invade her mind so often. _Like a sister, _she reminded herself. _That's all he sees you as. Therefore _you _must see him like a _brother. She sighed inwardly, wincing at the memory.

"Ha, no, I don't trust you driving normally, especially not when you're tired… I'll get Blaine or someone to give drive me, I need to catch up with him anyway." She ran a hand nervously through her hair. "Haven't spoken to him in a while, actually, should sort that out…"

"That might be a good idea, actually." Evan propped himself up on one elbow and pushed a hand through his hair. "I think he and Kurt argued last night. Actually, I _know _they argued, Alice has a hell of a set of lungs. And hey, I don't know what you're talking about, we're fabulous drivers." He added, his words muffled by the pillow he'd thrown his face back into. Elsie raised her eyebrow disbelievingly, and shifted her bag from one shoulder to the other, contemplating Evan's words.

"I'll definitely go see him then… and, really? Your suspended licences would beg to differ. Ok I'll see you next weekend, we still up for the bonfire?"

Lazy but excited noises emitted from Evan's direction, whilst Ethan bounced up and down on the bed, eyes gleaming and shouting "Yes! Yes! Yes!"

As she shut the door behind herself, Elsie flashed Ethan a quick grin and chuckled softly to herself, before heading down the hall.

Elsie stopped outside Blaine's dorm room and rapped her fingers lightly on the door. There were a few seconds of silence before she heard movement from within, the rustle of bedcovers being thrown back, the pound of feet as he strode to the door from the bed on the far side of the room. She could almost see it, the stack of books on his desk, the widescreen on the wall alive with a rerun of an old America's Got Talent episode, the smattering of pillows on the floor next to the unused bed, the one that's pushed right up next to the wall to keep out of the way…

As she saw the handle turning, Elsie couldn't resist the tug that pulled at the corners of her lips, so when the door opened to reveal Blaine, her face was stretched into an excited grin. However, the smile fell as quickly as it came. This was not the Blaine she knew and loved: this Blaine had red, puffy eyes; there were curls springing free from the gel that usually held them in place, and he was clad in too-long sweatpants and an old Dalton Knights t-shirt, when as far as Elsie knew, he had dropped out of the school's football team almost as soon as he'd joined.

She couldn't miss how his face visibly dropped when he saw it was her, and this sent her mind spinning. Blaine, who was usually so guarded and composed, was a mess. This was all too familiar, and it sent anger coursing through her. Evan had mentioned an argument, but she hadn't expected Blaine to be in this state. It made her wonder just how much of his heart Kurt already had.

Her mind flashed back to the last time she had found Blaine like this: he had answered the door to only her; shown only her how bad his bruises actually were, and, in the end, she had been the only one who could cheer him up; and make him forget. Sooner or later, though, the story had gotten out, but Elsie felt a tug at her heart thinking about how close they had been through those months that Logan was giving Blaine crap, and suddenly she wanted to tear out the throat of whoever was making him feel like this again.

Their eyes locked, brown on brown, and in Blaine's Elsie sought an explanation. He recognised this, identified her alarm, and replied with a single, broken name.

'Kurt.'

'Oh, honey.' Her arms reached out to wrap around him, and as he buried himself into the familiar, comforting embrace, it suddenly hit them how much they had missed one another.

Blaine gripped her tightly. She had been his anchor whilst the whole debacle with Logan had been going down, and she would be his anchor this time.

After a couple of minutes, Elsie pulled away and said, 'Do you want to talk about it?'

Blaine hung his head ashamedly. He knew it was his fault, he'd blown things all out proportion…

'Not really,' he mumbled. 'I just - I need to, um, give him time. We need time apart." He exhaled a wavery sigh, his head remaining firmly down, eyes fixed on the gap between his feet and hers.

With concerned eyes, Elsie considered his broken form. A thousand words of comfort, of advice, bubbled to her lips, only to dissipate before her mouth could form them. Despite their recent distance, there was no denying that they knew each other practically inside-out, so she knew that hugs and comfort would only serve to remind him that the arms he really wanted around him were a few hours drive and apologies galore away. They'd been here before, and what he really needed was a distraction.

Elsie hummed contemplatively, earning a narrow-eyed glance from Blaine. She squinted a little, smiled sheepishly, and hoped it hadn't been too long so that Blaine couldn't interpret her message. After a few seconds, though, Blaine's expression cleared, and he smiled almost gratefully before speaking.

"Yes, I'll give you a ride." He smiled again, this time to himself: then, grabbing her hand and his keys, stepped out of the room, pulling the door closed behind him. He stood for a moment, staring down at the keys in his hand and the fingers wrapped in his before he laughed humourlessly, and ran a hand tiredly over his face. When his head lifted, Elsie raised an inquisitive eyebrow, earning a sardonic smile and teary eyes.

"This time last Friday, I was -" Blaine cut off, his face contorted with pain until he breathed deeply and was able to continue, "I was stood here, exactly like this, but - but Kurt was with me." He finished quietly. His eyes were downcast now, and the back of his hand holding the keys was rubbing relentlessly over his eyes, determined not to let a single tear fall. He felt the hand gripping his tighten and drew his hand away from his face, bringing his eyes back to meet with Elsie's. They stared at each other for a moment, and the clench around his hand was mirrored around his heart as he realised just how much he had missed the girl stood before him. She smiled sadly as they managed once again to communicate without words.

"C'mon," Elsie said finally, turning away and tugging Blaine down the hall. "You owe me a ride."


End file.
